Onwuka Nzeshi There are strong indications that Nigeria is fast becoming a launch pad by global powers, particularly, Russia in the scramble for the soul of Africa. The revelation came just as the African Initiative, a press agency, has been linked to Russian intelligence operations.
A recent technical report published in June by Viginum, France’s watchdog against information manipulation, revealed that African Initiative has been a conduit for Russian propaganda across Africa, The report tagged: “African Initiative: From Public Diplomacy to Covert Influence Operations,” reveals Nigeria as a central pillar in Russia’s strategic ambitions – both as a target for manipulation and a launch pad for broader propaganda efforts.
New Telegraph learnt that the agency had maintained strong ties with the Kremlin and has continued to present itself as a benign “information bridge” between Russia and Africa. According to the report, the African Initiative, in reality, appears to function primarily as a conduit for pro-Kremlin narratives.
“Despite a prolific output of over 18,000 articles by April 2025, its digital footprint remains surprisingly limited, with afrinz.ru attracting an average of only 35,000 monthly visits between December 2024 and February 2025. “However, the agency’s organisational structure and key personnel hint at deeper, more concerning affiliations.
Artyom Kureyev, its editor-in-chief, has been sanctioned by the European Union for ‘malign activities’ and is widely believed to be a former Russian intelligence officer. Further cementing its state ties, the African Initiative’s official launch was covered by Zvezda, the Russian Ministry of Defence’s official television channel.
The agency also actively champions ‘Africa Corps’, the rebranded iteration of the controversial PMC Wagner group,” the report said. Nigeria has also been fingered as a hub for Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven deception through “AlFreak,” an “Information Manipulation Set (IMS)” characterised by clandestine digital activities. “Al-Freak operates through a network of fake media websites, with newstop.africa serving as a prominent French-language platform targeting the African continent.
“While deceptively purporting to be based in Niger, the site’s contact telephone number, bearing Nigeria’s dialling code (+234), strongly suggests Nigeria’s integral role within African Initiative’s broader information manipulation efforts.
This indicates Nigeria may serve as a central hub or a primary audience for the deceptive content disseminated by Al-Freak. “Content published on newstop.africa consistently promotes pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine, and antiWestern narratives.
These messages are amplified through a variety of deceptive tactics, including inauthentic X accounts featuring AIgenerated profile pictures, Private Blog Networks (PBNs) designed to create artificial backlinks, the exploitation of technical vulnerabilities on legitimate partner websites to insert hidden backlink pages, and automated blog comments,” said the report.
Beyond its role in facilitating AlFreak, the report alleged, Nigeria is also a key focus for the promotion of African Initiative’s mobile application, “AFree”.
Launched in February 2024, AFree aims to rival Western social media platforms and has been heavily advertised on the Newstop Afrique website and the newstop.africa X account, further linking it to the Al-Freak operation.
According to the report, Russia has been capitalising on the discontentment among Nigerians due to the rapid rise in the cost of living and the economy’s dependence on Western countries to cultivate antiWestern sentiments and position Russia as a viable alternative.
“While African Initiative exhibits rapid and opportunistic expansion across the African continent, with notable activities in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Kenya, and Libya (a target for Africa Corps deployment), its multi-layered engagement in Nigeria – encompassing both the overt promotion of the AFree app and the subtle technical ties within Al-Freak – unmistakably positions Nigeria as an integral component of Russia’s evolving hybrid influence mechanism in Africa,” the report said.
